textMammata’s Kavyaprakasa is an eleventh-century Sanskrit work on poetics that
synthesizes two earlier schools of poetics: the Alankara School (the School of Poetic
Ornamentation) and the Dhvani School (the School of Suggestion). The first six chapters
establish the method of synthesis and explain the position of the Dhvani School. Jyatsna
Mohan’s edition of the Kavyaprakasa (Nag Publishers, 1995) is transliterated, edited, and
translated from Sanskrit into English.
The dissertation’s introduction places the work in conceptual, artistic, and
historical context. Here a new theory about the nature and importance of Mammata’s
theoretic synthesis is advanced. It is argued that Mammata was aware of the tensions
between the two schools and sought to create a system of poetics that could incorporate
the theoretical and critical tools of both.
Explanatory comments are added to make the work more accessible and to clarify
philosophic difficulties. Additional comments seek to show how the poetic examples
serve to illustrate theses of the larger philosophic discussion.Philosoph